Apple recruits famous Impressionist: Snow Leopard wallpaper gallery

Wallpapers have surfaced for Snow Leopard, Apple's forthcoming update to its OS X operating system. Peruse our glossy gallery to see for yourself if they're as good as Windows 7

Richard Trenholm

Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.

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Richard Trenholm

Aug. 11, 2009 9:37 a.m. PT

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The wallpapers for forthcoming new Apple operating system OS X 10.6, codenamed Snow Leopard, have been revealed. Apple has recruited impressionist painter Claude Monet, alongside Vincent van Gogh, Edward Hopper and yes, some leopards.

The 35 wallpapers have appeared at graphics Web site CreativeBits. Although we don't have a confirmed release date for the new version of OS X, it is available on pre-order and could be with us as soon as September. It's set to go head-to-head with Windows 7, which has already shown off localised wallpapers showing scenes from around the world.

Apple has loosely grouped its wallpapers into categories: natural scenes, mountaintops, patterned material, leaves, leopards and, interestingly, famous paintings. Click through our gallery for the glorious pictures that could be adorning your iMac or MacBook desktop, and let us know which is your favourite in the comments.

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This is the default desktop.

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Camoflage for your Mac.

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Morrrrdorrrr!

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This is the bamboo-themed wallpaper.

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Bring me the horizon.

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Oiceberg! Roight ahead!

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Take a leaf out of Apple's book with this desktop...

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...these summer leaves...

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...and these autumnal fall leaves.

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Brr, it's the misty mountains.

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Redwoods, tallest trees on earth.

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These pond reeds look rather like piranhas about to eat some other fish.

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Count the rings.

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Get your rocks off.

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I love Lake Tahoe.

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More mountains, with the summit wallpaper.

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Some materials now, starting with this sari.

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The very businesslike pinstripe. Aren't Macs meant to be for 'creatives'?

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Tie-dye. Far out.

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Smooth as silk.

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Graffiti blue...

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...graffiti pink...

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...and graffiti red. But is it art?

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This certainly is: A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, painted in the pointillism style by Georges Seurat.

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This is Ballerina, by Edgar Degas.

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Van Gogh's Starry Night.

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Claude Monet's Wild Poppies Near Argenteuil.

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The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai.

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Another from impressionist Monet: this time it's Water Lilies.

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Suprematism (Supremus No. 58), by Kasimir Malevich.

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Nighthawks, by Edward Hopper. But where's Marilyn and Bogie?

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And the money shots: some snow leopards, this one scratching an itch.

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A snow leopard on the prowl.

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Update: This image is Snowstorm Leopard, which won the Wildlife Photographer of the Year award in 2008 for the appropriately-named Steve Winter. Thanks to eagle-eyed reader shugyokem for tipping us off. Apple's OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard operating system is on pre-order now and will be on the prowl sometime in September or October.